



="^. ^«,.-^ .^0 







# % =;"t"^)?^^ _.?^ % ^ 






5. ' 







': "^A V*' 

















< .-^"v-!^;^ 



^'•"^i->i^ . 



'^.^, ' -> s 



.^^ 



2> ^Ci-. 



^'^' 



\0^ 









8 I 






-V 










^-^ * ff 1 A KV ^ .-. ^ , '/> .' N " 



"> 










j^atljan Hale 



OTHER BOOKS BT 

William (Drutoa^ ^jDartritige 

Art for America, - - - ^i.oo 
The Song Life of a Sculptor, i .00 
The Technique of Sculpture, i .00 

(Illustrated by Original Drawings) 

The Angel of Clay (novel), 1.25 



THE IDEAL PATRIOT 



a ^tttti^ of aiiaracter 

BY t'-'^ 

WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE 

fVith Vieivs of the Author's Statue of Nathan Ha/e; 

Portraits of Hale'' s Contemporaries and of 

Kindred Characters ; 

ALSO 

Three Drawings by W. R. LEIGH 

TOGETHER WITH AN 

Introduction by George Gary Eggleston 




NEW YORK AND LONDON 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 
1902 



THP LIRRAWV OFl 
eCNGRESS, 

Two Cof-ite rrgcEive*! 

WAR 2e~t902 

COPyHWMT ENT»Y 

CLASS O^ XXc No.l 






Copyright, 1902, 
By FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 



[Printed in the United States of A mericd\ 
Published in March, igoa 



SDeDication 



TO THE MEN OF YALE AND TO ALL MEN WHO HAVE 

THE TRUE LOVE OF COUNTRY IN THEIR HEARTS 

I DEDICATE THIS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF OUR IDEAL AMERICAN PATRIOT 

NATHAN HALE 

William Ordway Partridge 



Contents! 



PAGE 



Authors' Preface, 13 

Nathan Hale, a Poem, 19 

Foreword, 23 

The Creation of an Ideal Work, ... 31 
Life of Nathan Hale : 

Ancestry and Early Life 45 

The Battle of Long Island, ... 59 

The Secret Expedition, 67 

The Capture, 77 

Comparison of Hale and Andr^, . . . .91 
Character of Nathan Hale, .... 105 
Index, 129 



91Uusitmt(oni8 

Nathan Hale on the Way to the Scaffold, Frontispiece 



PAGE 



Statue of Nathan Hale (Front View), ... 19 

Bust of Edward Everett Hale, . . . . 31 

Life Mask of a Typical Yale Student, . . . 36 

George Washington 40 

Jonathan Trumbull 54 

General Howe, 59 

Interview between Washington and Hale, . . 67 

Parting of Hale from his Friend, Captain Hull, . 74 

Mother Chichester's Tavern, 78 

The Capture of Hale, 82 

Major Andre, 94 

Statue of Nathan Hale (Profile View) , . . 106 
Facsimile of Writing of Nathan Hale, . . .113 



giutf)or's preface 



THIS book is not a conventional biography 
of a Revolutionary hero, with cuts of 
tombstones and dry historical data. It deals 
with the living present. In my statue and 
studies of this heroic life I have attempted 
to give the very spirit of one of America's 
foremost patriots — one who became a martyr 
on the threshold of his manhood and who died 
that we might be free. 

It is a sculptor who has wrought for five 
years or more over the face and form of Nathan 
Hale, and who has found in this subject an in- 
spiration not to be put into words, that is moved 
to write the simple story of the short and brave 
life of a man who has not yet received his meed 
of honor from his countrymen. I have looked 
with great interest over the lives of Hale that 
have been written by men of scholarly attain- 
ments, and have found them of interest mainly 

[13] 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



to students of history, but they seem to me 
not inspired or vital to the living present. To 
these biographers this heroic life could not 
have meant as much as to the sculptor of the 
statue ; wherefore the latter has undertaken to 
put into book form for the great, warm-hearted 
American people the data which he has gath- 
ered from relatives of Nathan Hale and from 
studies made of the young patriot's short life- 
history. A sculptor living with his statue and 
seeing it grow from day to day gets very close 
to the spirit of his subject, and such a one 
hopes to say in this biography a few words 
which those lips of bronze might utter could 
they open and speak, and which all his fellow 
officers and friends would say were they alive 
to speak for him. 

It is a strange fact that there has been no 
great poem about Nathan Hale, altho men no 
less eminent than Timothy Dwight have essayed 
their hands at such a work. The attempts all 



[14] 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



smack of the stage, of brass buttons, of the pro- 
fessor and the academy, and do not touch the 
soul of Hale's sacrifice and martyrdom. They 
sound as if Pope or some understudy of Pope's 
might have written them. Hale is too great for 
these little flights of fancy or the dry facts of 
the historian. It is unfortunate that not one of 
our great poets has felt inspired to write some 
sublime ode to the memory of this ideal hero. 
For, while English literature is full of elo- 
quence and poetry in memory of the fate of 
the ill-starred Andr6, it is a strange fact that 
neither Bryant, Whittier, Longfellow, nor 
Lowell has felt inspired by the man who so 
notably stood in the fore of all his heroic con- 
temporaries. 

The time is just dawning for America when 
her people are beginning to appreciate the great 
souls that have created the republic. The sac- 
rifice of Nathan Hale is one that we must not, 
can not forget, unless we write our own con- 



[15] 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



demnation as a republic. The heroic deeds of 
a people live in its monuments. Greece is pre- 
eminently great because of her sculpture, and 
her sculpture commemorates the deeds of her 
national heroes. So Egypt, Persia, Assyria, 
— what are they but the Pharaohs, Cyrus, 
Sargon immortalized in stone? 

"All passes into dust 

Save deathless Art alone; 

The bust 
Survives the ruindd throne." 

So wrote Theophile Gautier. We have a 
purer and higher civilization to commemorate 
than that of thrones and empires, and therefore 
we should not, as Matthew Arnold feared for 
us, let 

" Slowly die out of our lives, 
Glory, and genius, and joy." 

William Ordway Partridge. 

Studios, January 4ih, igo2^ 

New York City. 

[i6] 



A POEM 




STATUE OF NATHAN HALE (FRONT VlEW) 

By IVilliavi Ordway Partridge 



One hero dies — a thousand new ones rise, 

As flowers are sown where perfect blossoms fall ; 

Then quite unknown, the name of Hale now cries 
Wherever duty sounds her silent call. 

With head erect he moves and stately pace, 
To meet an awful doom — no ribald jest 

Brings scorn or hate to that exalted face : 

His thoughts are far away, poised and at rest; 

Now on the scaffold see him turn and bid 

Farewell to home, and all his heart holds dear. 

Majestic presence! — all man's weakness hid, 

And all his strength in that last hour made clear : 

" My sole regret, that it is mine to give 

Only one life, that my dear land may live." 

William Ordway Partridge. 



[19] 



By GEORGE GARY 
EGGLESTON 



foretoorD 

DURING half a dozen years or more Mr. 
Partridge the sculptor, and Mr. Partridge 
the patriot, and Mr. Partridge the poet — the 
three combined in one personality — has been 
engaged in a close, loving, and minute study 
of the character of Nathan Hale. Mr. Par- 
tridge the sculptor has interpreted Hale most 
nobly and inspiringly in clay and bronze. This 
interpretation is to stand forever on the college 
green at New Haven, over which Nathan Hale's 
footsteps so often fell during his student days. 

Mr. Partridge the man of letters has in this 
book undertaken to interpret Nathan Hale in a 
text that can not fail to interest all who read. 
He has sought here to put into literature that 
which he has already so nobly put into sculp- 
ture. The result of his labors will appeal with- 
out doubt to every patriot, to every reader of 
literature, and especially to every man, woman, 

[23] 



FOREWORD 



and child who appreciates self-sacrifice in behalf 
of a great cause, or who recognizes the truth 
which forms the basis of all religions from that 
of Gautama to that of Jesus : namely, that the 
sacrifice of oneself for the benefit and the sal- 
vation of others is the worthiest use that any 
man can make of that life and of those privi- 
leges which have been given to him by a gra- 
cious God. 

With that breadth of mind which inspires 
the artist, Mr. Partridge, tho a patriot, is in 
no sense a partizan. In that of course he is 
right; but in the interest of the truth of history 
it could be wished that he had made even 
stronger that which he has made strong: 
namely, that between the case of Nathan Hale 
and the case of Major Andre there is no com- 
parison, but a contrast rather. 

Nathan Hale was technically a spy, and as 
such he suffered the death which a cruel mili- 
tary law imposes for that miscalled crime. 



[24] 



FOREWORD 



Nathan Hale went into the enemy's lines a pa- 
triot bent upon finding out what force the 
enemy had and what its dispositions were. 
Major Andre's mission was a different and a 
degraded one. He came into the American 
lines not as a scout — which Hale was in essence 
— charged with the duty of finding out the 
forces and the position of his enemy, but as a 
corrupter of men, with money and with entic- 
ing offers of official preferment. He came into 
the American lines to hire major-generals to 
betray their trusts, to forfeit their oaths, to per- 
jure themselves, to make of themselves the most 
infamous creatures in existence for the sake of 
such reward as he could offer them. 

Nathan Hale's mission was one of honor; 
Andre's mission was one of infamy. Nathan 
Hale was hanged upon a technicality which 
military men find it necessary to maintain and 
enforce. Andr^ — high born and highly con- 
nected as he was — was hanged for about the 



[25] 



FOREWORD 



most infamous crime that it is possible for any 
man to commit — the crime of suborning perjury 
— the crime of purchasing perfidy — the crime 
of betraying trust — the crime of treason in its 
most infamous form. 

A certain soppy sentimentality has sur- 
rounded Andre with a halo of regret. Nothing 
of the kind is justified by the facts. Andre 
was an infamous scoundrel, caught in the act of 
doing the work of an infamous scoundrel. 

Between these two men there was never, and 
there never can be, anything like a comparison. 
Between these two men there is and must al- 
ways continue to be the radical distinction be- 
tween a patriot engaged at the risk of his life 
in serving his country and a despicable scoun- 
drel engaged in bribing others to dishonorable 
courses. 

Perhaps it was a dull and unenlightened in- 
stinct that prompted the blowing up of the An- 
dr6 monument on the Hudson River, but that 



[26] 



FOREWORD 



instinct was right in its ultimate inspiration, 
Andre was deserving of infamy. Nathan Hale 
was deserving of eternal admiration. 

Let us not confuse these things. Let us not 
confound the good with the bad. Let us not for 
one moment institute comparisons where con- 
trast only is suggested by the historical facts. 

Mr. Partridge has studied the character, the 
purposes, and the personality of Nathan Hale as 
no other man has done since that patriot of the 
Revolution — educated, refined, and full of en- 
thusiasm for his country's cause — sacrificed his 
life in behalf of those great principles of hu- 
man right and the right of self-government 
among men for which our nation stands, and 
upon which it rests as its secure foundation. 
Surely from one end of the land to the other 
Mr. Partridge's interpretation of this great pa- 
triot-martyr will command not only assent but 
enthusiastic applause. 

George Gary Eggleston. 



[27] 



C!)e Creation 
of an ftjeal Wotk 



Arthur T. Hadley, President of Yale, said at the 
dedication of the Ives-Cheney Gateway, October 
2 1, 1 90 1, as reported in The Bicentennial Alumni 
Weekly (page 179, fourth column): 

" Of all the memorials which are offered to a University by 
the gratitude of her sons, there are none which serve so 
closely and fully the purposes of her life as these monuments 
which commemorate her dead heroes. 

" The most important part of the teaching of a place like 
Yale is found in her lessons of public spirit and devotion to 
high ideals which it gives. These things can, in some meas- 
ure, be learned in books of poetry and in history. They can, 
in some measure, be learned from the daily life of the College 
and the ideals which it inculcates. But they are most sol- 
emnly and vividly brought home by visible signs, such as this 
gateway furnishes, that the spirit of ancient heroism is not 
dead and that the highest lessons of College life are not lost." 




BUST OF EDWARD EVERETT HALE 

By William Ordway Partridge 



Ci^e Creation of an 31tieal Wovfi 

Q OME years ago the suggestion for a Nathan 
^ Hale statue was made to me by several of 
the alumni of Yale, who felt that Hale was 
their typical hero and ought to have a place on 
New Haven green or on the University campus. 
Strangely enough, Yale has been slow to 
honor the man who was her first patriot. I 
think it was about five years ago that I com- 
menced work on my Hale models and tried to 
inform myself about this subject. When I 
began my statue of Alexander Hamilton, I was 
obliged to make a careful study of the Colonial 
epoch, tho the period, with its costumes and 
accessories, was not new to me. I gladly con- 
fess, however, that the work on the figure of 
Nathan Hale has been to me not only a revela- 
tion but an inspiration. When one thinks of 
that young fellow so full of life, so full of joy, 

[31J 



THE CREATION OF 



so full of physical and moral strength, just on 
the threshold of manhood, giving his life at 
twenty- one for his country's sake, giving it so 
gladly, so freely — we feel that it can not help 
but inspire the whole American people, as they 
turn from office, shop, and plowshare, and im- 
pel them to consider the ideals that make for 
manhood. We have run a long race, we 
Americans, since Columbus came here in his 
galleys, and we have only now stopped to 
breathe and think of those great lives of our 
ancestors that have made this modern life of 
ours possible. 

" Thoughts great hearts once broke for, we 
Breathe cheaply in the common air; 
The dust we trample heedlessly 

Throbbed once in saints and heroes rare." 

As we look back through the records of the 
past, especially through this Colonial epoch, we 
find no man more worthy to be put in enduring 
bronze and to stand forever on a college green, 

[32] 



AN IDEAL WORK 



than Nathan Hale. He is primarily Yale's 
hero and patriot; and the sons of Yale are 
turning, with an enthusiasm that can scarcely 
be understood by those who do not follow the 
growth of this university, toward symbolizing, 
in some permanent form, the man whose mem- 
ory represents so much to his college, to his 
State, and to his country. 

It has been suggested to me that it would be 
interesting to the public to know something of 
the creation of an ideal work. Originally I had 
Hale standing on the scaffold, but abandoned 
this idea to follow the suggestion made to me 
by the late Phillips Brooks. This was, that a 
man does not remain all his life at a university, 
but passes on to something higher and more 
worthy of his powers and of his larger man- 
hood. I have therefore attempted to depict 
Hale in motion, but in a motion which inspires 
rather than fatigues. I represent him on his 
way to the scaffold, and my thought is that, as 



[33] 



THE CREATION OF 



the statue stands on the college green, it shall 
be the possession not only of the University of 
Yale, but of the State of Connecticut and of 
the whole country; that it shall be an inspi- 
ration to every young man who comes up to the 
university — a lesson of that higher patriotism, 
which, eliminating self, and impelled by prin- 
ciple, gives itself unreservedly for the good of 
its country. 

So, as these young men look upon this statue, 
the sculptor trusts that they will be inspired, 
as Phillips Brooks suggested, to pass on to that 
larger life of the world, which, without forget- 
ting the precious associations of their Alma 
Mater, shall lead them into the actual world 
of men, and to some ideal worthy of our ripest 
manhood. 

As there is no portrait of Hale in existence, 
I went about making one in the following way. 
Of its wisdom the reader must judge, but in any 
case it was my way of working. I remembered 



[34] 



AN IDEAL WORK 



one thing especially — a thing which Phillips 
Brooks said to me when he came to my studio 
to see my Shakespeare — that the men of any 
one epoch look alike. It is not difficult for the 
reader to see that there is a certain Colonial 
type represented by Washington, Jefferson, 
Adams, Hamilton, and others, that is in a way 
different from our own ; and the suggestion of 
an epochal face is one that artists may dwell 
upon with all seriousness. First of all I stud- 
ied the life and such fragments of the work of 
my hero as remain, and I have been in com- 
munication with three lineal descendants of 
Hale, that I might learn all that I could about 
the man. 

Realizing his spiritual, moral, and physical 
make-up, I began to think of the face as it 
must be, keeping before me the Colonial type. 
Among my studies I made use of a cast, which 
is here depicted, of a typical Yale man, one 
who thought and worked along the lines of Na- 



[35] 



THE CREATION OF 



than Hale, who was willing to go into the ranks 
of the enemy and die there gladly if his coun- 
try called him to do so. Of course I did not 
use this face as the life-mask showed it, but it 
helped to make up the Nathan Hale toward 
which I was working. Then, too, I used in 
part the bust of Edward Everett Hale which I 
made for the Union League in Chicago, since 
that distinguished man of letters is related to 
Nathan Hale. It is not difficult to imagine 
that this last of the great Bostonians of the 
Emersonian epoch has in his veins the same 
blood which quickened the youthful patriot; 
indeed, his story, " The Man Without a Coun- 
try," testifies plainly to this fact. All this will 
be interesting to the public who crave to know 
how an artist gets a likeness which does not 
actually exist in form or color. First of all, he 
finds the spiritual type of the man — the class to 
which the man may be assigned. Then, by 
a careful study of his words or of his history. 



[36] 




LIFE MASK OF A TYPICAL YALE STUDENT 



AN IDEAL WORK 



he arrives at an idea of the face that tallies with 
his thought or with his heroism, for, as Drum- 
mond and Browning have well said, 

" A man is what he thinks." 

The face itself suggests the trend of a man's 
thought. After this study of a man's thought 
and work, the artist uses such natural, tangible 
methods as I have suggested — casts, family 
likenesses, and the sagacious criticism of his 
fellow artists. 

Of course this is only a brief outline of the 
immense labor and time that go to make up an 
ideal statue — work which is the test of a sculp- 
tor's ability, since an artist can often do a very 
good portrait statue from life when he would 
utterly fail with an ideal work. Such a cre- 
ation means not only a study of history, but 
conversation with the men who are making the 
times and who are able to give intellectual and 
intelligible criticism. 

[37] 



THE CREATION OF 



In the historical records we find no account 
of the three important months in the life of 
Nathan Hale from September, 1776, until the 
first of January, i 'j'j'j, other than the data given 
in this biography. On consulting these men of 
our time who have made the most careful re- 
searches into this epoch, and into these three 
all-important months to Washington and the 
new republic, I find that it is uncertain if Na- 
than Hale managed to convey across the river 
to his commander-in-chief any of the valuable 
information he acquired in the fortnight he 
spent in and about the enemy's camp. 

Men who have argued that he kept in con- 
stant communication with Washington have not 
been able to furnish the author with any other 
evidence than their own beliefs on the subject. 
This fact, of course, in no way detracts from 
the greatness of Hale and from his sacrifice ; in 
reality it only emphasizes the greatness of the 
man who can accept such a death as his, know- 



[38] 



AN IDEAL WORK 



ing that all the information he had obtained 
had been utterly destroyed, and that his mis- 
sion was practically a failure. It emphasizes 
that victory of the vanquished — a victory which, 
as Browning well says, 

"The world's coarse thumb and finger fail to 
plumb." 

There are three scenes in the life of Nathan 
Hale — which in all covered a score of years — 
that fix themselves indelibly in the mind of the 
student of his life. The first is where, with 
beating heart and face flushed with the un- 
daunted purpose that animated it, he presents 
himself before his commander-in-chief, to take 
from the lips of Washington himself the final 
directions which were to determine his move- 
ments and the duration of his stay in the 
enemy's camp. What a picture for an artist ! 
Hale abandons the picturesque costume that he 
wore as an officer in the Continental army for 

[39] 



THE CREATION OF 



the plain homespun dress of the schoolmaster 
he is about to impersonate, and which he has 
actually worn in the capacity of teacher at New 
London and East Haddam. 

We can imagine his reception by the digni- 
fied and rather reserved, but at this time most 
anxious, commander of the American forces, 
and how strangely its calm contrasted with the 
youth, animation, and alertness of the trim and 
tried athlete — known for the agility of his 
physical powers as well as for his natural and 
simple manners, and for that gift of personality 
which has held the world spellbound in the time 
of warfare as of peace, and which has never yet 
found definition in words. Washington bids 
him to be seated, and there in the twilight, be- 
fore Hale starts out upon his fatal mission, dis- 
cusses with him the route, the men to be seen 
and marked, the manner of despatching infor- 
mation (if possible) before his return, and the 
length of time he is to remain in that hostile 



[40] 




By courtesy of the Taber-Pruuy Art Co., N. Y. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON 

From the Pamting by Gilbert Stuart 



AN IDEAL WORK 



camp. Then in the silence and in the twilight 
the young man rises, and as he stands before 
Washington's powerful and well-knit figure, 
strong and staunch, altho well into middle 
life, it does not require a prophet's vision to 
see that the eyes which Stuart has so faithfully 
rendered — gentle, reserved, determined — are 
glistening as the great and kindly soul ponders 
over the thought that this may be his last 
glimpse of one of the most versatile, able, and 
courageous of his officers. With a low and 
dignified bow, receiving in return the silently 
expressed blessing of the anxious commander- 
in-chief, the young man departs on his errand. 
Here is a scene for a painter — a memorable one 
in the annals of American history. 



[41] 



iCife of i^atijan f|ale 

ANCESTRY 
AND EARLY LIFE 



Qinctmv a«ti Catlt Life 

IF we look at Hale's ancestry we find that he 
was born of good substantial stock, a thing 
that the Greeks considered essential to great- 
ness. His father, Deacon Richard Hale, of 
Coventry, Connecticut, was a serious man. He 
went to bed with the swallows and arose with 
the lark, and if his boys were not up as early 
as he, he wanted to know the reason why. 

Hale had the simple, manly training of 
the eighteenth century. He was born June 6, 
1755, and his whole life ran through scarcely 
twenty-one short years. To-day we consider 
a man young at thirty, in face of all there is 
for him to learn. Then life was simpler, and 
greater because of its simplicity. His mother 
seems to have had artistic and literary incli- 
nations, which afterward showed themselves 
strongly in her son Nathan. From his father 

[45] 



NATHAN HALE 



came that firmness of purpose, that determi- 
nation, which enabled our ancestors to carry on 
the war against England in the face of such 
fearful odds. Authorities differ, but it is 
stated that Hale entered Yale at sixteen during 
the presidency of the elder Dwight. His col- \ 
lege record is a fascinating one. He was an 
all-around man, an ideal character, physically, 
spiritually, and intellectually developed. The 
jump he made on the campus marked him for 
many years as the best all-around athlete the 
college had produced, and the space he covered 
was shown for years after he left college. Of ^ 
deep interest is the fact that he was one of the 
founders of the Linonian Society ; that he was 
considered an able debater, possessing a force 
and logic in argument which rendered him a 
formidable opponent. He possessed not only 
ideal proportions, but a grace and charm which 
attached all people to him. 

It is also recorded that he was a very good 



[46] 



NATHAN HALE 



amateur actor and enjoyed all the healthful de- 
lights of his contemporaries. Curiously enough 
we find among his classmates Benjamin Tall- 
madge, that colonel of the Revolutionary Army 
who had charge of Andre during his imprison- 
ment. Another of his intimate college friends 
was the famous General Hull, one of the char- 
ter members of the Society of the Cincinnati, to 
which the sculptor of this statue stands close, 
Bishop Partridge, his elder brother, holding the 
one membership allotted to each line of de- 
scendants of the founders of the Society. 

While Hale's college standing may have been 
of little moment, we have reason to believe it 
was high in merit. It was his standing before 
the world that we care about. The terseness 
of his motto suggests the Latin precept " Carpe 
diem. " It was, " A man ought never to lose a 
moment." In Hale's short life there was no day 
that did not count for something. He gradu- 
ated when he was eighteen, but in those days, 



[47] 



NATHAN HALE 



of course, the curriculum was easier. Men 
were more mature then than we find them to- 
day. His parents intended him for the minis- 
try, evidently not appreciating that larger min- 
istry of life in which a man serves his God best 
when he uses his own talents and genius. Let 
it be said to the glory of East Haddam, Conn., 
that he was a schoolmaster there. It was this 
honor, perhaps, that has rescued the town from 
oblivion. 

There was a love episode which makes his 
death the more tragic. His father, having mar- 
ried, brought into the family a step-daughter 
Alice, to whom Hale became strongly attacl^ed, 
but strangely enough the Deacon was opposed 
to the marriage. He had other ambitions foi 
his son Nathan, and therefore ordered his step, 
daughter to marry a merchant of the village 
In those days people were guided by the advice 
of their parents ; but, alas ! Hale's heart ached 
sorely when Alice was given over to Elijah 



[48] 



NATHAN HALE 



Ripley in that holy sacrament. As we see 
Hale on the way to the scaffold there is some- 
thing in his face that makes us feel he is think- 
ing not only of his duty to his country, but of 
the woman he loved. 

We next hear of Hale in New London as a 
teacher in one of her union grammar schools. 
There are many letters extant which bear testi- 
mony to the fact that he was loved by all his 
contemporaries. There is a description of him 
given by a certain Samuel Green, one of his 
pupils in New London, which may be of inter- 
est. I will quote part of it: "His manners 
were engaging and genteel; his scholars all 
loved him. While he was not severe, there was 
something determined in the man, which gave 
him a control of the boys that was remarkable. 
He had a way of imparting his views to others 
in a simple, natural method, without ostenta- 
tion or egotism, which is a rare gift." In fact, 
he had that gift of personality which Dr. Ed- 



^ 



[49] 



NATHAN HALE 



ward Everett Hale says is the rarest of all 
gifts. 

Regarding Nathan Hale's physical propor- 
tions, it may be said that he was of an ideal 
height, about six feet, with broad chest and 
graceful figure. His features were regular, and 
his face showed intelligence and strength. His 
eyes were blue and large, and his hair brown. 
All his contemporaries speak of his manly 
beauty. His usual expression was serious; in 
his dress, strangely enough, he was almost 
fastidious, altho he led a simple life. His 
salary was seventy pounds, a generous one for 
those days ; and he added to it by tutoring at 
night, so that he was enabled to live well. His 
athletic abilities made him very popular with 
the boys and young men. It is recorded that 
he could put his hand on a fence as high as his 
head and clear it easily at a bound. As soon 
as the Continental troops began to gather in 
New Haven, Nathan Hale took an interest in 



[50] 



NATHAN HALE 



their maneuvers. When news came of the 
fight at Lexington, there was a mass- meeting 
held at Miner's Tavern, where Hale made an 
impassioned speech in favor of marching at 
once to Boston, saying, " Let us not lay down 
our arms until we have gained independence. " 
A declaration for independence in those days 
meant either realization or the hangman's noose : 

"Then to side with truth is noble, when we share 
her wretched crust, 

Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis pros- 
perous to be just; 

Then it is the brave man chooses, while the cow- 
ard stands aside. 

Doubting in his abject spirit till his Lord is cru- 
cified, 

And the multitude make virtue of the faith they 
have denied." 

Hale immediately secured a leave of absence 
from school, and at daylight the next morning 
marched with the New London troops to Massa- 
chusetts. He soon received word that he had 

[51] 



NATHAN HALE 



been selected as an officer of one of the com- 
panies, and resigned his position as schoolmas- 
ter. His first active service seems to have 
been at New London in the defense of that 
place against the attack of the British man-of- 
war. It was here that Hale showed his bearing 
as a soldier. He was one of those men that are 
born to rule. On September 24, Washington 
called the Connecticut troops to Boston, and 
Hale went with them. It is interesting to note 
that he was introduced to Washington by Jona- 
than Trumbull, and that he had the personal 
affection and confidence of the commander-in- 
chief to the day of his death. 

W^hile there was no fighting at Boston at that 
time. Hale spent his leisure in disciplining his 
men, by whom he seems to have been idolized. 
An instance of his patriotism and generosity 
was shown at the time when his troops, ill-fed, 
ill-paid, and dissatisfied, became mutinous, and, 
like certain heroes of antiquity, he paid them 



[52] 



NATHAN HALE 



from his own pockets. It is not difficult to see 
that we are summing up the character of a man 
greater even than Xenophon or Brutus, more 
humane, more just, and more tenderly conscious 
of his duty to God and to man. We have al- 
ready spoken of him as a social favorite, and 
now we are telling of a real man — not the cre- 
ation of a poet's brain. In his diary we find 
notes as to his having dined with General Put- 
nam, Dr. Wolcott, Captain Hull, and other mefn 
of distinction. In fact, he seems to have been 
feted wherever he went. 

Another element of romance now enters into 
his life. Alice Ripley, his first love, had be- 
come a widow with one child, and it was evi- 
dently understood that she and Hale were to be 
married at the close of the war. Correspond- 
ence was kept up between them until his death ; 
and while she lived to a great age, and he died 
so young, she remained true to her first love. 
Her last wandering words, as she died years 



[53] 



NATHAN HALE 



afterward — an old woman — were, " Write to 
Nathan." 

While on a furlough to New Haven visiting 
one of his friends, word was sent to him that 
he had obtained a captain's commission in the 
army. There seems to have been one idea in 
his mind at that time, which is expressed in his 
own rendition of the words of the Latin poet, 
"How sweet and fitting to die for one's 
country." 

We find an interesting entry in his diary, 
viz., that he cut evening prayers for a wres- 
tling match. It is even recorded that Washing- 
ton himself was present on this occasion. 

Now comes an enterprise in which Hale 
shows his abilities as a leader. At the evacu- 
ation of Boston a British sloop anchored in the 
East River, and this was carefully guarded by a 
man-of-war. Hale conceived and carried out 
the idea of capturing this sloop, but the risk 
and danger attending the undertaking were so 



[54] 




^ 



'^C^/^-U^^^^^ 



WHO INTRODUCED HALE TO WASHINGTON 



NATHAN HALE 



great that he dared not confide his scheme even 
to his fellow officers. He knew that the boat 
was filled with clothing and eatables, and the 
thought of his ill-fed, poorly clad Continental 
soldiers outweighed his fears. He chose a few 
men from his own company and started out 
without orders. They noiselessly crossed the 
river to the hostile shore just before the day 
began to break. It was still dark enough for 
them to move about without being seen. They 
heard the watchman on the man-of-war cry, 
" All's well. " Hale awaited his opportunity, 
climbed over the edge of the sloop, seized the 
tiller, and, leaving part of his men to watch the 
unconscious guards, steered for the American 
wharf, arriving just at dawn in time to receive 
the cheers of the patriot camp. Had he failed 
he would have been severely censured. As it 
was he received thanks for his enterprise and 
was forgiven. He became more and more the 
idol of his men. 



[55] 



iLtfe of JBtatfjan f|ale 

THE BATTLE 
OF LONG ISLAND 



m^t ^Battle of Long gjjSlattD 

AFTER the evacuation of Boston, General 
Howe sailed to Halifax, and on the nth 
of June, 1776, began the memorable expedition 
whose objective point was New York. The 
importance of this city was thoroughly under- 
stood by both the English and the American 
forces. Situated at the mouth of the Hudson 
River, the chief seaport of the Atlantic coast, 
it was the main roadway to Canada. General 
Howe's plan of campaign and his motto, " Di- 
vide to conquer," involved a scheme to seize 
New York and despatch his fleet up the Hud- 
son River to meet his army from the north. 
This program would, if carried out, lead to the 
absolute isolation of the New England States 
from the so-called Middle States, which latter 
he thought would fall an easy prey when be- 
yond the help of the other colonies. He also 

[59] 



NATHAN HALE 



intended at the same time to attack the South- 
ern colonies, and hoped that the whole rebel- 
Hon would thus be speedily crushed. But the 
sturdy Washington had anticipated in a measure 
his thought, and had hastily erected fortifica- 
tions on the present Governor's Island, Red 
Hook, Fort Green, and Brooklyn Heights; 
while his main camp was on Long Island and 
in Brooklyn. He had obstructions placed in 
the East River to prevent the passage of the 
British fleet. 

On the 29th of June the British fleet arrived 
in the lower bay, and on the 9th of July Howe's 
army was landed on Staten Island, where it re- 
mained a month and a half, receiving reenforce- 
ments almost daily. 

The American troops, all told, reckoned but 
14,000 fighting men, and their commander. 
General Nathaniel Greene, being suddenly pros- 
trated with a fever, was superseded by General 
Israel Putnam and General John Sullivan in 



[60] 



NATHAN HALE 



command of the Long Island forces. The 
American lines extended from Kingsbridge, 
Manhattan Island, to the Battery, and from 
Wallabout Bay to Gowanus Meadow many 
miles away. 

It was not until the 22d of August that the 
British army was transported from Staten Is- 
land to a point near the present Fort Hamilton. 
Washington hurried reenforcements to Brook- 
lyn, the threatened point of attack. The 
British advanced in three columns toward 
Brooklyn Heights— the Hessians under General 
De Heister through the old village of Flatbush, 
and the right wing under General Clinton, with 
Lords Percy and Cornwallis along the road run- 
ning from Bedford to Jamaica; while General 
Grant with the Highlanders took the more dan- 
gerous shore of the bay. The British plan of 
attack was well conceived. They thought to 
throw the first two columns against General 
Stirling near the shore and General Sullivan in 

[6i] 



NATHAN HALE 



the center, while the right wing, swinging 
about, would outflank the Americans attacking 
in the rear. The British without difficulty 
seized the Jamaica road and the village of Bed- 
ford, and the retreat of the American forces was 
almost cut off. In the mean time the High- 
landers had engaged General Stirling's com- 
mand, while General Sullivan was holding the 
Hessians valiantly at bay. At the same time 
the British fleet bombarded the defenses of Red 
Hook on the right of General Stirling. 

It was a precarious moment for the Ameri- 
can forces, for, in the midst of his defense of 
the center. General Sullivan learned that the 
British flank was in his rear, and he immediate- 
ly ordered a retreat. His forces became en- 
tangled in the woods and were attacked by the 
English on the one hand, by the Hessians on 
the other. Many of his men were killed, many 
were captured, and a few escaped to the enemy's 
camp. In the same way the forces under Gen- 



[62] 



NATHAN HALE 



eral Stirling were taken unawares and routed, 
and but few managed to escape. The loss on 
the American side exceeded 3,000 men killed, 
wounded, and taken prisoners. Among the lat- 
ter, alas ! were Generals Sullivan and Stirling. 
The English loss, all told, was less than 100. 

On the same night the British army en- 
camped within the former American lines, 
throwing up entrenchments within six hundred 
yards of the enemy's works and opening a bom- 
bardment on Fort Putnam. It was a critical 
moment for the American army. Attacked by 
a superior force in the front and their retreat 
likely to be cut off by the fleet in the rear, sur- 
render seemed inevitable. At a council of war 
it was decided by Washington and his generals 
that the evacuation of Long Island must be 
effected. By a very skilful piece of maneuver- 
ing this evacuation was accomplished on the 
night of August 29, the troops being with- 
drawn in small detachments with no confusion 



[63J 



NATHAN HALE 



or alarm — evidently without the British being 
aware of what was going on. A heavy fog, 
fortunately for the American forces, enveloped 
the East River and concealed the movements 
of the American forces from the English fleet. 
So Long Island fell into the hands of the British 
and remained in their control until the end of 
the war. 

I have given this brief sketch of the battle of 
Long Island to show the almost helpless condi- 
tion of the American forces at the time when 
Washington called upon some one of his officers 
to go into the enemy's country and ascertain 
certain details regarding their movements and 
ammunition which he felt were essential to their 
success. 



[64] 



iltfe of JEatfjan Hale 

THE 
SECRET EXPEDITION 




INTERVIEW BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND HALE 

Draivn by W. R. Leigh 



Ci^e Secret CicpeMtion 

IT was a troublous time for the American 
cause when Washington lay before the city of 
New York in 1776 with 14,000 ill-fed, unpaid, 
discouraged, inexperienced men, awaiting the 
attack of 25,000 well-equipped veterans. One 
can grasp the situation in a moment. Many 
difficult questions now came up. Would the 
British attack the city of New York directly or 
would they cross from Montressor's Island to 
Harlem.? Would they pass higher up the 
Sound, land at Morrisania, or perhaps sail along 
Long Island and land at some point even farther 
east.? Was it their intention to cut off the 
communications of the American army with 
the country.? Would they simultaneously land 
parties in the North River and the East River, 
stretch across Manhattan Island, and hem in the 
town .? 

[67] 



NATHAN HALE 



Upon the solution of these questions de- 
pended the fate of the American army. Some- 
thing had to be done. Washington realized 
that a spy must be sent into the British lines to 
learn their intentions. He requested Colonel 
Knowlton to call his officers together, make 
known the desperate state of affairs, and ask for 
a volunteer to enter the British lines. Natu- 
rally a man of education was needed, one who 
understood the technical side of military plans 
and could make the necessary drawings. Hale 
was ill and arrived late at this meeting. When 
Knowlton stated the object of the call no one 
responded. Men of honor felt it an indignity 
to act the part of a spy. Knowlton made an 
impassioned speech, but to no avail. Just then 
Hale entered, and in a cheerful, determined 
voice said, " I will undertake it." 

At the close of the meeting. Hale visited 
Hull, his college chum, and told him what had 
happened. Hull urged his friend against the 



[68] 



NATHAN HALE 



undertaking, saying that his detection was cer- 
tain, and that it would mean the loss of a good 
soldier to the country. But no argument could 
deter him, not even the advice of his nearest 
friends — not even the prospect of the death of a 
dog. He felt that serving his country, no mat- 
ter in what manner, was noble, and added, " I 
am fully sensible of the consequences of dis- 
covery and capture in such a situation." All 
his fellow officers urged him against the enter- 
prise, but without result. Hale then called 
upon Washington, received his instructions, 
and, accompanied by two soldiers from his own 
company, Sergeant Hempstead and Ansel 
Wright, who had begged permission to accom- 
pany him as far as it was deemed advis- 
able, prepared to start on the dangerous expe- 
dition. 

But this was not the last farewell that was in 
store for Nathan Hale; he has scarcely left the 
quarters of the Commander-in-chief when he is 

[69] 



NATHAN HALE 



met by his sturdy and faithful friend, Captain 
John Hull — a chum of old standing whom 
Hale loved with all his heart. They were such 
friends as David and Jonathan, as Alfred Ten- 
nyson and Arthur Hallam. Hull has deter- 
mined at any cost to persuade his friend to give 
up the errand which he clearly foresees will re- 
sult in failure and death. He throws all his 
powers of persuasion in the balance. He calls 
to mind Hale's position in the army, and the 
loss of dignity he would sustain with his brother 
officers, even were he successful in his hazard- 
ous undertaking; then in a softer voice he 
places his hand upon the shoulder of his friend 
and softly mentions the name of one whose 
heart must break if Hale should never return, 
and to whom his ruin means unspeakable sad- 
ness. . Hale drops his head and is moved by 
this last appeal even more than by the words of 
his Commander-in-chief. Hull sees his ad- 
vantage and follows it up quickly with other 



[70] 



NATHAN HALE 



persuasive arguments ; but the tears that have 
started into the eyes of the patriot are dashed 
away, and, straightening himself to his full 
height of six feet, he looks his friend steadily 
in the eye and tells him that his determination 
can not be shaken even by the mention of a 
name for which he would lay down his life had 
he not before him the first and greatest need 
of his country. And so the two pass on 
arm in arm soon to be joined by Hale's con- 
federates, and Hull accompanies him far out 
upon his journey. They speak to one an- 
other as the heart speaks in the presence of 
that silence which may fall at a moment's no- 
tice and without warning close the most prom- 
ising life that was ever devoted to the cause 
of liberty. 

Of the three men who started out from town 
but one returns, Captain Hull in his uniform 
with bowed head, and we do not wonder that all 
night he turned in his sleep with a strange rest- 



[71] 



NATHAN HALE 



lessness which his companion officers could not 
understand. 

How far Hempstead and Wright accompanied 
Hale we do not know. They left him, on that 
memorable eve of September 15, 1776, late at 
night and in an impenetrable fog. But a light 
passed into that fog which has never been 
quenched, and which must burn brightly so long 
as the American Republic endures. 

Clothed in the garb of a schoolmaster, in 
which dress I have attempted to show him in 
my statue, and taking with him his college di- 
ploma in order to bear out the character, Hale 
walked about forty miles, and crossed from 
Harlem Heights to Long Island. At nightfall 
he boarded a boat and started back across the 
Sound. The place where he landed is now 
called the " Cedars. " Near by a certain Widow 
Chichester, known as " Mother Chich," kept a 
tavern, a rendezvous for the Tories of the 
neighborhood. However, Hale passed here in 



[72] 



NATHAN HALE 



safety. He moved on until he finally reached 
the city of New York. 

The Continental officers wore long faces when 
Hale went out from their midst upon an errand 
that they knew meant life or death. Many of 
his most intimate friends knew nothing of 
where he was going. If before he returned the 
army moved off with his belongings he was 
quite willing to take his chances of rejoining 
his command. He had one great purpose and 
motive before him, and all material matters 
were subordinated to it. Of one thing we may 
be sure, that he passed through the entire Brit- 
ish army ; for the drawings found in his shoes 
and the Latin notes show an accurate descrip- 
tion of all its fortifications and plans. 

Whether, previous to his capture. Hale had 
managed to convey any information to Wash- 
ington, is a matter of pure conjecture. If he 
did so, the knowledge of it died with himself 
and Washington. It would have been a state 



[73] 



NATHAN HALE 



secret not to be given to the public ear. But it 
is very possible, but not probable, that he was 
in almost constant communication with General 
Washington, and that despite his untimely 
death the information he was able to send to 
Washington about General Howe's movements, 
through the confederates he found everywhere, 
must have been of great service to the Father 
of our country, at that critical time when he 
was puzzled and anxious as to the movements 
and equipment of the British. 



[74] 




PARTING OF HALE FROM HIS FRIEND. CAPTAIN HULL 

Draivn by If. /?. Lei^r^ 



3Ltfe of JEatijan Hale 

THE CAPTURE AND 
EXECUTION 



H 



Ci^e Capture and €xttntion 

ALE had virtually accomplished his work. |/ 



He had been for nearly two weeks within 
the enemy's lines ; he had shown a rare sagacity 
in passing by the different guards ; he had met 
and recognized and been recognized by men 
who knew him in the months that had passed ; 
he had made designs of all the fortifications of 
General Howe ; he had formed so just an esti- 
mate of the strength and numbers of the enemy 
as to astonish and surprise Howe when after his 
capture it was spread out before him ; his work 
was actually accomplished, and he was now 
about to return. It is not to be wondered at 
that he grew a little reckless and over- confident 
as he sat in the tavern of Widow Chichester, 
the resort of the officers and Tories of the town. 
It was a picturesque scene. There were the 
English officers each with his brilliant uniform, 

[77] 



NATHAN HALE 



gilded breastplate and gold epaulets, white 
trousers and leggings and three-cornered hat, 
with deep-blue coat, having the brass buttons 
of King George in evidence, or clad in blue coat 
with brilliant red trimmings and gold epaulets, 
the hair caught at the back in the picturesque 
and simple manner of the times ; the cavalry- 
men with high boots and long curved sabers, 
and the infantry with their long guns stacked 
up against the corner. Then, too, we see a 
Tory or two in civilian costume, with light- 
blue or red satin coat faced with gold, with 
satin breeches, white stockings and low shoes 
with silver buckles — all so picturesque and 
brilliant and attractive to the man who thought 
he had accomplished his mission, and in his 
mind's eye pictured a safe return and the wel- 
come he would receive at the hands of his sol- 
diers, his home, and his sweetheart. Is it a 
wonder that, under the influence, perhaps, of 
an extra glass of Mother Chichester's ale, he 



[78] 



NATHAN HALE 



grew a little reckless, and perchance was pos- 
sessed by an over- confidence that we may ac- 
cord to men of his years rather than of his 
mind ; that perhaps he entered into a conver- 
sation with such animation that his flashing eye 
and ready speech were recognized by some 
Tory passing through the room, who paused 
only long enough to make sure that it was 
Nathan Hale, the rebel, who was haranguing or 
listening to these English officers over their 
glasses, and then went out to betray unto death 
the man with whom, it is said, he was con- 
nected by ties of blood ? 

It was not long after the departure of the 
betrayer that Madame Chichester entered the 
room, excitedly exclaiming that a boat was ap- 
proaching the shore. Hale sprang from his 
seat, seized his schoolmaster's hat of dull brown 
or black, caring for neither soldier nor civilian, 
passed out of the tavern, down to the shore 
where he expected to meet the boat that was to 



[79] 



NATHAN HALE 



carry him safely to his own camp. So sure was 
he that this boat bore his friends that he gestic- 
ulated and even shouted to it, and it was not un- 
til he reached the very edge of the water that 
he suddenly found a number of muskets leveled 
at his breast and was commanded to surrender. 
How dramatic and fearful the scene! How 
quick the transition ! How terrible the change 
that must have come over his heart ! A few 
moments before he had been building his cas- 
tles in the air — now he looked into these Eng- 
lish muskets and knew that all hope was over 
forever. The picture fastens itself indelibly 
upon the mind, with a pathos that is almost ap- 
palling, did we not keep before us the thought 
that Hale, with all his healthy love of life, still 
looked on death as not the greatest evil that 
could befall one — nay, as even glorious when 
met in the round of duty. 

Hale was taken immediately on board the 
guard-ship Halifax^ and it must be said that 



[80] 



NATHAN HALE 



Captain Quarne of this ship treated him with 
more kindness than he ever received afterward. 
He was immediately sent to the headquarters of 
General Howe, and it is interesting to know 
that he was confined in the greenhouse of the 
old Beekman mansion at Fifty-first Street and 
First Avenue — this house being Howe's head- 
quarters at this time — until that general could 
see him and arrange for his execution. 

Howe was thunderstruck when the memor- 
anda which Hale carried in his shoes were spread 
before him, and with the extent and accuracy 
of the prisoner's work. It is certain that the 
English commander was so impressed with the 
prisoner's personality that he offered him a full 
pardon if he would enter the British army. 
We now find Hale the simple, frank American 
officer that he was before he went on his errand, 
refusing any bribery, and making a full and 
frank confession of all that he deemed was 
right. There was only one thing for Howe to 



[8i] 



NATHAN HALE 



do, and we must consider his action with the 
mercy that is due to those critical periods of 
history that try men's souls. We believe that 
he was no more willing to execute Hale than 
Washington was to sign the death-warrant of 
Major Andre, but nevertheless he wrote a for- 
mal order to William Cunningham, Provost- 
Marshal of the royal army, to receive into his 
custody the body of Nathan Hale, a captain of 
the rebel army, and at daybreak the next morn- 
ing, September 2 2d, 1776, to see him hanged 
by the neck until dead. The old jail stood not 
far away from what is now the eastern bound- 
ary of City Hall Park, near the Hall of Records. 
Cunningham's character has been analyzed 
and set forth by many writers. He was a 
brutal man, most of the time intoxicated, and he 
took a malevolent delight in torturing those who 
came under his care. He even drew from his 
prisoners the pay which the British army al- 
lowed them for rations. One of his chief de- 



[82] 




THE CAPTURE OF HALE 

Drawn by IV. R. Leigh 



NATHAN HALE 



lights was to torment his victims when they 
stood under the very shadow of the gallows ; but 
in the case of Hale it had no effect. His 
thoughts were "poised and far away." He 
listened quietly to the death-warrant, and his re- 
quest for a Bible was brutally refused. But 
there seems to have been some kind-hearted 
guard who furnished him with writing materials 
after Cunningham had fallen into a drunken 
sleep. 

That solemn night was spent in prayer and 
writing letters, which were to be destroyed the 
next morning by this same Cunningham, who 
was enraged by their sentiments, and deter- 
mined that the world should not know how 
nobly a rebel could die ; or, to quote his exact 
words, that " the rebels should never know they 
had a man who could die with such firmness. " 

Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, in an interesting 
essay of twenty- odd years ago which led to a 
revival of interest in the name and deeds of 



[83] 



NATHAN HALE 



Nathan Hale, dwelt, as many historians have 
done, on the last hours of the patriot. What 
they were we know only from hearsay. If it be 
true that the Provost- Marshal Cunningham was 
the brute that history has depicted him, it is 
gratifying to know that the guard who had Hale 
in charge when Cunningham fell into his 
drunken slumbers did not deny him the Bible 
which Cunningham had forbidden; and did 
testify to the letters of farewell to his mother 
and to his fiancee, which we have before de- 
scribed. 

The hanging probably took place at Cham- 
bers Street in an old graveyard, and was as cruel 
and brutal as one could imagine. The custom 
was to have the prisoner march from the jail 
under an armed guard to the graveyard, Cun- 
ningham with a squad of officers bringing up 
the rear, and by his side the black hangman, 
Richmond, with a ladder over his shoulder and 
a coil of rope about his neck. At the foot of a 



[84] 



NATHAN HALE 



tree stood a long pine box, which was to hold 
all that remained of one of the most brilliant 
and courageous spirits that ever trod this 
American soil. Near by was a freshly dug 
grave, but it had no terrors for Nathan Hale. 
These things with which Cunningham used to 
terrify his captives might have affected men of 
a different order. 

We must look upon the city as scarcely 
awake; the sunshine just breaking across the 
horizon, crowds of lower-class people, soulless 
and heartless ; women, children, and teamsters, 
who had gathered with the curiosity natural to 
mankind, to see the hanging of a spy. When 
Hale turned toward them with that far-away 
look, it made no difference to him that he con- 
fronted not one friendly face. His interests 
had passed beyond the things of this earth, and 
were at rest with God and those he loved. 
When at last he stood on the ladder waiting for 
the rope to be thrown over the limb of a tree. 



[85] 



NATHAN HALE 



Cunningham demanded a confession. Hale's 
concise reply to that command has made him 
immortal. It reveals him as one of the great- 
est heroes in the history of any nation. The 
exact words as we know them are, " I only re- 
gret that I have but one life to give for my 
country. " And that was spoken more to pos- 
terity than to the jeering mob around him. 
We can imagine the flabby and bedraggled Cun- 
ningham staggered by an order of heroism that 
he could not understand. Enraged by this re- 
ply, and fearful of its influence on the crowd, 
he cried out, " Swing the rebel off ! " And the 
negro pushed him from the ladder to his death. 
One quick death-struggle, and all was over. 

There is a report that there was one Bogert, 
a Long Island farmer, present with his wagon, 
who was asked to see a man hanged as late as 
1784. "No," he replied, "I have seen one 
man hanged as a spy and that is enough for me. 
That old devil-catcher, Cunningham, was so 



[86J 



NATHAN HALE 



brutal and hung him up as a butcher would a 
calf. I have never been able to efface that 
scene of horror from my mind. " We are not 
surprised to hear that the women witnesses 
sobbed — they had women's hearts — and the 
brutal Cunningham swore at them, telling them 
they would have the same fate. 

A few hours later a British officer came into 
the American camp under a flag of truce and 
told Hamilton, then a captain of artillery, that 
Captain Hale had been arrested, condemned as 
a spy, and executed that morning. His brother 
officers discussed his sorrowful fate, feeling that 
a precious life had been sacrificed and that noth- 
ing had been gained in return ; but there was 
not a man in the Continental army who was not 
strengthened by that noble patriotism and un- 
selfish devotion to his country. One hero may 
die in silence, but a thousand will rise where 
these fair blossoms of manhood fall. 



[87] 



Comparison of 
Hale anti ^ntir^ 



CompartsiDn of i^ale attti anur^ 

PERHAPS the most touching chapters of the 
Revolutionary epoch are those which deal 
with the deaths of Hale and Andre. It is an in- 
teresting matter to contrast with the Connecti- 
cut schoolmaster the cultured and distinguished 
British colonel, fresh from the salons of Paris 
and London, a litterateur, an artist of no mean 
accomplishment, and a gentleman of refinement 
and taste. Washington has been severely criti- 
cized for permitting this brilliant young officer 
to suffer the death penalty; but we can not 
doubt that he carried out the same inexorable 
duty in regard to a spy found in the enemy's 
camp, that caused General Howe to sign the 
death-warrant of Nathan Hale. 

John Andre rose in the ranks as rapidly as 
did Hale, by means of that magnetism which 
men call personality. From the position of 

[91] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



aide-de-camp he advanced to the position of 
Adjutant- General of the British forces. It was 
at this time that the traitor Arnold, finding this 
ready clay so plastic in his hands, and seeing in 
the bright and lively spirit of this young Eng- 
lishman the very stuff to trade and traffic with, 
used him in his proposition to the British to 
sell to them the important fortress of West 
Point on the Hudson River, the key of the 
American position. 

It was a curious affair, Andre's going out on 
a vessel bearing a flag of truce to have an inter- 
view with the American General Arnold. Be- 
fore that interview or negotiation had termi- 
nated, an American fort had opened fire on the 
vessel and caused her to drop down river. An- 
dr^ was in a dilemma. He could not return 
by the way he had come, and was forced to pass 
the night in the American lines at the house of 
his guide, and to set out the next day by land 
for New York. The quick-witted Arnold had 



[92] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



provided him with passports which carried him 
through the American outposts unmolested. 
The next day, however, when he grew reckless 
amid danger, and his guide. Smith, had left 
him in sight of the English lines, he was sud- 
denly stopped by three militiamen of the enemy 
and carried back, as we know, a prisoner, never 
to return. He came in the course of events be- 
fore Washington and a court-martial. He made 
a spirited defense ; the remonstrances were ac- 
corded all due weight ; everything was done to 
save him ; but perhaps the story of the way in 
which Nathan Hale was suspended from that 
apple-tree, and of the tearing up by the brutal 
Provost-Marshal Cunningham of the letters 
which Hale had written to his own friends and 
family, was present in the hearts and minds of 
the American officers. 

And yet it was without hate that Major An- 
dre was executed as a spy on October 2, 1780. 
The sentence was justified by martial law; and 



[93] 



HALE AND ANDR^ 



posterity has passed its quiet and unbiased ap- 
proval of the act. Andre tried to bribe a major- 
general, and in fact perjured himself in such a 
manner as to make his position beyond that of 
a mere spy found in an enemy's country. One 
only regrets that the traitor Arnold escaped while 
the tool he used paid such a fatal penalty. Andre 
was no doubt a man of rare courage and distin- 
guished military attainments. His mind had 
been well cultivated. He also showed consider- 
able poetic and musical talent, if not genius, but 
he should never have gone on such a criminal 
mission, so unworthy of a gentleman and a soldier. 
A bit of romance here touches our hearts 
most keenly. When stripped of everything by 
the militiamen who had seized him, he managed 
to conceal in his mouth a portrait of Miss 
Sneyd, which he always carried on his person. 
Perhaps it was fortunate that his fiancee had 
breathed her last some months before his cap- 
ture, altho this news had not reached his ears. 



[94] 




^-^^^^Ui^/^TT- ^-<^^^^^^^-^ 




From an Engraving by W. G.Jackman 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



His unhappy fate excited the sympathy of 
Europe, and the whole British army went into 
mourning for him. A sculptured relief in 
Westminster Abbey, placed there by the British 
government in 1821, testified to the admiration 
they had for this brilliant and courageous soldier. 

The comparative merits of the characters of 
Nathan Hale and Major Andre will be the sub- 
ject of dispute for many years to come. But 
we are inclined to look upon the subject in a 
more lenient way than our able historian Henry 
Cabot Lodge, who calls Andre a spy and a 
traitor who sought to ruin the American cause 
by bribery. We are more inclined to believe 
that a man of Andre's refinement, culture, and 
abilities would stake, in the same way that Na- 
than Hale did, his own life in the service of his 
country, knowing that the penalty meant death 
if he were discovered or caught. Mr. Lodge 
says Andre sought his ends by bribery ; but do 
not all spies seek their ends by bribery, and is 



[95] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



not this part of their business and the business 
of war? "However we may pity his fate, his 
name has no place in the great temple at West- 
minster where all English-speaking people bow 
with reverence," is too strong language for Mr. 
Lodge to venture upon, and he must furnish 
sufficient historical data to prove his words. 
This he has scarcely done; and, moreover, if 
he could furnish such data, he would have to 
prove that a man of high spiritual, moral, and 
intellectual attainments had suddenly become a 
scoundrel, which is hardly conceivable to the 
mind of the common- sense thinker. 

We do not detract from the glory of Nathan 
Hale in giving Andre what praise is due him 
for undertaking a mission of such dangerous 
character, knowing full well that his life hung 
in the balance. 

An artist comes to know men not by what 
is said about them or even by what they say 
about themselves, but by the writing of life 



[96] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



upon their faces, and after thirty years of ex- 
perience with the human face he learns to read 
it like a book. A man may conceal for a mo- 
ment the trend of his thought, but it is only a 
swerve in the current of the river, — the water 
will soon bear on again, and the thoughts and 
feeling of the man will reveal themselves in the 
eye and general expression of the face. Any 
one who has studied the refined and gentle face 
of Andr6 knows that the words of Mr. Lodge 
are too strong. 

It is unfortunate for Andre, that, without re- 
gard to physiognomy, his life does not exhibit 
the nobility and straightforwardness that the 
life of Hale bears on its face. There is a ques- 
tion as to whether the metal in Andre's charac- 
ter was pure gold or not, but that question can 
never be raised with the character of Nathan 
Hale. We do know that, while Andre was 
quartered at the house of Benjamin Franklin in 
Philadelphia where there was an excellent por- 



[97] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



trait of that great statesman, he took away the 
picture, saying that he would hang that at pres- 
ent as he hoped later to hang the man it de- 
picted, and that he also took away two boxes of 
valuable books belonging to Benjamin Frank- 
lin. We know that later this portrait was found 
in possession of an earl in England, and it is 
fair to assume that Andre had sold it, together 
with the books. We know that his taking of 
this property was contrary to the rules of war- 
fare and can not be excused even under the plea 
that we were rebels, and not such a foe as Eng- 
land might have had in a war with France or 
Germany. By the code of the English army this 
deed laid Andre open to being court-martialed and 
perchance shot, had he been detected, or had he 
not had sufficient influence to cover this theft. 

Of course the greater criminal in the act for 
which he was executed was Benedict Arnold, 
into whose hands Andre fell and by whom he 
was used as a tool to carve out the traitor's 



[98] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



execrable plans. How unfortunate it was that 
Andr^ was led to abandon his uniform and put 
on a citizen's dress when he left Benedict 
Arnold, while the latter knew that Andre's 
capture meant death ! It would have been an 
easy matter for Arnold to have sent him down 
the river in a boat and placed him safely upon 
the Vulture^ an English war-ship that was 
anchored below. 

We must remember that Major Andr6 was 
twenty-nine when he was executed, and Nathan 
Hale had just touched the threshold of manhood 
and was scarcely twenty-one. Andre was more 
a man of the world, altho Hale was welcomed 
everywhere because of his frank and pleasing 
personality. But with all his personal charm 
he could not have appeared in the salons of 
London or Paris with the same poise and 
savoir faire that Andrd had at his command. 
On the other hand, the world had little time to 
work its ill upon the face and form of Nathan 



^ 



L.clC. t5)9] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



Hale. He must have stood beneath the gal- 
lows tree a magnificent specimen of physical 
manhood, with a clear, transparent face, and an 
expression that a child could read as he runs. 
He had the deep-set eye of the student and 
introspective thinker. He went on that mission 
understanding thoroughly its dangerous import, 
not from mere bravado, but with a sense of the 
loftiest courage inspiring him to serve his coun- 
try at any cost. 

Compared with Andre, Hale was more vigor- 
ous, more virile; stouter of limb and body, 
more intellectually honest, but without the 
brilliancy of intellect or that ripe culture which 
comes from association with quick-witted men 
in a great metropolis like London or Paris. 
This in no way detracts from his character. 
He was simple and single-hearted, noble, un- 
trammeled by the usages of society or the de- 
mands of the social world. 

The last words of Major Andr^ are said to 



[lOO] 



HALE AND ANDRfi 



have been : " I request you, gentlemen, that you 
bear me witness to the world that I die like a 
brave man. " These are fine words, worthy of 
the gentleman and soldier that he was, but con- 
trast them for a moment with the sublimity of 
those of Hale, when he exclaims : " I regret 
that I have but one life to give for my country." 
Had Andr6 succeeded, he would have had the 
applause of his king, and one of the highest 
offices in the army to crown his efforts as a spy. 
Even in his failure he had all that England 
could give — a tablet in Westminster Abbey 
among her illustrious dead. Where are the 
ashes of Nathan Hale? Scattered to the four 
winds of heaven ! Perhaps it is better so, for 
he rests in our hearts to-day. He is an ideal 
and undying patriot. We can place our hands 
on no spot and point to no tomb, saying, " Here 
lie the ashes of Nathan Hale." But this whole 
country pulses with one great heart- beat at the 
mention of his name. 



[lOl] 



Ci)atacter of 
i^atJ)att flale 



€i)atatttt of ilJJati^an l^ale 

OUR American world, given so much to 
commerce, is, of necessity, only begin- 
ning to appreciate the service of those men who 
have gone on before, and who have made this 
great and wonderful republic. 

Among all the patriots the name of Nathan 
Hale stands brightly out in the darkness of the 
nation's struggle for her independence. The 
traffic of this great city sweeps over the spot 
where his body was rudely thrown by that cruel 
provost-marshal, who, too, has found in the 
opinion of posterity his due compensation. 

If it be true that Howe had decreed, which 
the author greatly doubts, that *' Hale should 
die like a dog," it is certainly a fact that Pro- 
vost-Marshal Cunningham saw that Hale had as 
bad a death as any dog could suffer. But we 
are inclined to think that the half-drunken 

[105] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

officer, jealous of the heroism which he had not 
the soul to appreciate, wanted to blot the patriot 
from the face of the earth as did Nero the 
Christians who folded their arms before him 
and died with a faith that the Roman emperors 
had no soul to appreciate or understand. 

If the British hoped, or the rough men who 
surrounded the young American officer at that 
moment dreamed, to obliterate the name and 
deeds of Captain Hale, they certainly have been 
unsuccessful, for 

" Unto each man his handicraft, unto each his 
crown, 

The just Fate gives." 

Nathan Hale, when he stood under that tree, 
had no wrong feeling for the mob about him, for 
even the drunken provost-marshal who had de- 
stroyed his letter to her whom he loved and had 
refused his latest hours the Christian consola- 
tion of a Bible. Unstintedly and unreservedly 
had he given his life to his country, and amid 

[io6] 




STATUE OF NATHAN 



HALE (PROFILE VIEW) 

By William Ordivay Partridge 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

these wretches we see him self-centered and 
sublime. 

There was no room in the character of Nathan 
Hale for the pride, scorn, and pettiness of a lit- 
tle man. It is not where the cannon booms or 
the thrills of battle stir the blood, that the 
greatest heroes are to be found, but where men 
and women die in silence, with God only to wit- 
ness their heroism. 

Hale had everything to expect from his 
army. No one stood higher in the regard of 
his superiors. He knew that by succeeding he 
might save the American army, and that his 
failure meant the most shameful death; but 
some men are greatest in their death, and no 
doubt his heroic sacrifice produced more effect 
on those discouraged troops than if he had re- 
turned with all the information the British took 
away from him. He knew that he would be re- 
membered as a spy, but he could wait calmly 
for the " afterword " of posterity, when he would 

[107] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

take his own place, and men would understand 
that he had gone forth with one simple, direct 
purpose — to serve his country and his God in 
whatever capacity was demanded of him. In 
Lowell's *' Present Crisis " are words that seem 
applicable to this heroic death-scene : 

" Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes — they were 

men who stood alone 
While the crowd they agonized for hurled the 

contumelious stone; 
Stood serene and down the future saw the golden 

beam incline 
Toward the side of perfect freedom, mastered by 

their faith sublime, 
By one man's plain truth to manhood and by 

God's supreme design." 

Swinburne in his " Rivers of Babylon " has 
expressed the same sentiment : 

" Unto each man his handiwork, unto each his 
crown. 

The just Fate gives; 

[108] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

Whoso takes the world's life on him and his own 
lays down, 

He, dying, so lives. 
Whoso bears the whole heaviness of the wronged 
world's weight, 

And puts it by, 
It is well with him suffering, tho he face man's 
fate. 

How should he die, 
Seeing death hath no part in him any more, no 
power 

Upon his head? 
He hath bought his eternity with a little hour, 
And is not dead. 
For an hour if ye look for him, he is no more found, 
For one hour's space; 
Then ye lift up your eyes to him and behold him 
crowned, 

A deathless face, 
On the mountains of memory, by the world's well- 
springs, 

In all men's eyes, 
Where the light of the life of him is on all past 
things. 

Death only dies." 



[1093 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

This same thought is echoed in Browning's 
" Grammarian's Funeral." The master-poets 
love to deal with the victory of the vanquished, 
which the world's thinkers know to be greater 
than the victory of the victorious. 

In his address commemorative of Yale's two 
centuries of achievement, Justice Brewer of the 
Supreme Court thus referred to that institu- 
tion's debt of honor to Nathan Hale, her first 
patriot : 

" Will Yale prove equal to the emergency ? 
She herself has grown. Organization has a 
foothold in her life. The struggling little col- 
lege with a single curriculum has broadened 
into a great university with various departments 
and a multitude of courses of study. Hundreds 
of instructors and thousands of students gather 
here. She dwells in princely habitations. 
Her educational appliances and facilities are 
wonderful. Are all these things which wealth 
has gathered about her but the decoration of 

[no] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

the mausoleum, or are they the appliances and 
facilities for a larger work of training and 
service? Watchful and loving eyes are upon 
her. Will the dying words of her martyred son 
Hale become simply a motto written on a pic- 
ture panel, a fossil curiosity in her museum, or 
remain the inspiring thought of all her instruc- 
tors and students ? If the one, the funeral ode 
may as well be written. If the other, then all 
the magnificences of her present equipment will 
be but the tools of great usefulness and the 
habiliments of an ever- advancing glory. Will 
that thought of public services vanish from her 
halls .-* From out the silence of God's acre I 
hear her sainted founders reply * God forbid.' 
From the great army of instructors and grad- 
uates now numbered with the silent majority 
comes the earnest answer, * Never ! ' while from 
the lips of ten thousand living instructors and 
graduates rolls thunderingly the solemn oath of 
President Jackson, ' By the Eternal, Never ! ' " 

[IXI] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

There is no Yale student, no young American, 
who has any pride in his country, no patriot 
of any country, whose heart does not beat more 
quickly as he reads of the simple and noble 
sacrifice of Nathan Hale. The annals of Greece 
and Rome show nothing finer, nothing nobler. 

Hale was constituted to be successful in any- 
thing he undertook. It is hardly necessary to 
add that he was a Christian gentleman, and one 
of the last requests he made of the brutal Brit- 
ish jailer was for a Bible. He seems to have 
had the sanity of the Greek mind. 

Edward Everett Hale has told us that Wash- 
ington was not the man of the school-book or- 
der, but a natural human being and dearer to us 
for the fact; so it takes nothing from the glory 
of Hale to say that he was of the same mold. 
He enjoyed his friends, his wine, and his cards, 
but all with moderation and sanity. In fact he 
was a man of the world in the Christian accept- 
ance of the word. 

[112] 



V\ 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

It has been suggested by some pessimist that 
" Republics forget and kings only are grateful." 
But this epigram is self-contradictory. If the 
time ever comes when we do forget, as a people, 
these heroic spirits, — we shall have signed and 
sealed the death-warrant of this Republic. 
There can be no true cosmopolitanism, despite 
much idle talk, without true patriots. 

There are few men who will question the in- 
sight of the great seer and philosopher, Cole- 
ridge, and there are few inspired critics who 
can be compared with him. What he says in 
his short essays is definitive. He has the gift, 
that rare gift, of finding the heart of his subject 
and laying it bare before you. He has the art- 
ist soul speaking through the philosophic mind. 
Writing of the Greek he says : " History shows 
us that the Greek attained to the highest in art 
and literature when he was free, — when his pa- 
triotism was at its intensest enthusiasm. The 
moment she lost her independence her arts 

[114] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

fell into decadence, and her artists were scat- 
tered over the civilized u'orld. " And what 
he says is true, not only of yesterday, but of 
to-day. 

With Hale it was another case of the soul of 
Greece against the bulk of Persia. He stood 
out for fourteen thousand half-starved, poorly 
clad men, against twenty-five thousand of the 
best-disciplined men and veterans England 
could send to our shores. He had talked long 
and earnestly with Washington and he knew 
the depth and import of his mission. He did 
not wear his heart on his sleeve ; consequently 
we know little of that serious conversation that 
he had with the commander-in-chief before he 
started on that mission from which he was never 
to return. 

Hale forsook all ! He had the scorn not only 
of the British but of his own people. But his 
life stands out in something more enduring 
even than bronze to testify to that order of 

[115] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

heroism which we call " the victory of the van- 
quished. " 

We must go back to the time when our fore- 
fathers came to this land. We do not forget, 
but we glory in the fact that we are English. 
The author comes of a race who held their com- 
missions from Washington, but who are still 
English in blood and feeling. He knows that 
the heart of every true Englishman will respond 
to the story and noble sacrifice of one who was 
essentially English altho fighting for the mo- 
ment against his motherland. The time is 
coming when there will be no Englishman and 
no American, but when the people of one com- 
mon blood will have one common name, one 
common tongue, and hearts that beat in unison. 
Our forefathers, having conquered the material 
forces of nature, made their homes here, built 
their stockades against the red man, and called 
themselves free. That they were not actually 
free, they learned when Lincoln made his sub- 

[ii6] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

lime proclamation in 1862. It took nearly an 
hundred years to teach this larger lesson of the 
freedom of the spirit — to lift freedom, as it 
were, out of the possessive case. 

But we must remember, as Coleridge sug- 
gests, that patriotism is the true nurse of the 
cosmopolitan, and that men who say, in a large 
way, that their country is the world, are gener- 
ally like the character of whom Edward Everett 
Hale has written, "without a country." The 
doors of their hearts and souls are closed to the 
revelations of the oracle of patriotism and 
the hearthstone. They are men away from the 
main stream and current of their country and 
time. They are either voluntary exiles spend- 
ing their lives in foreign travel, or professors 
whose horizons are bounded by the little college 
towns they live in. 

There are many men who will look back, as X 
they think of a heroic life, to their own careless 
youth lying like an oasis in the waste of the 

[117] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

desert, and who would give all the world's tri- 
fling honors for one day of clear-eyed, daring, 
sublime martyrdom. There are some men to 
embody whose spirit word-language seems in- 
adequate and only enduring bronze is fit. 

So the historian and socialist turn to the 
artist and say, " Art is a safeguard. " In these 
days when the physical sciences threaten to 
sweep away all places of man's relationship 
with the heroic and divine, one heroic statue 
with its uplifted face establishes, as nothing 
else can do, the fact that duty is forever be- 
yond and above the physical senses, and that 
there is something in man beyond the appetites 
of the body. Even the Alaskan savage sets up 
his totem pole to convey the idea that the soul 
of heroism must sometime escape from the limi- 
tations of the body. 

The lesson of a life like Nathan Hale is one 
of temperance and balance. It shows us what 
can be accomplished silently in the freedom of 

[ii8] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

the spirit. It teaches us the truth of what the 
truest poets of this epoch have written : 

" Thou hast but to resolve, and lo, God's whole 
Great universe shall fortify thy soul." 

One of the saddest sights in life is to see a 
man who has drifted from his purpose, at the 
mercy of wind and tide — a helpless derelict on 
the ocean of life, a slave of the forms and for- 
malism of his time. And one of the most 
magnificent examples to stand between man and 
such disintegration is a hero like Hale, to speak 
silently from the bronze the words of the poet : 

"Beneath this starry arch 
Naught resteth or is still; 
But all things hold their march, 
As if by one great will." 

That Hale had a deep religious feeling and 
was a true Christian gentleman goes almost 
without saying; and we may also infer that 
dogma played little part in his life. Walt 

["9] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

Whitman speaks to this people with a living 
voice when he says : 

" Your facts are useful but they are not my dwelling, 
I but enter by them to an area of my dwelling." 

Whitman knew that man and his purpose 
were greater than talk or institutions, greater 
than creed or any visible accomplishment. 

Twenty years ago it would have been impos- 
sible to erect a statue of Nathan Hale that 
would have in any way represented him as our 
ideal patriot. We had neither the technique 
nor the right appreciation to do so. But now 
the hour seems ripe for its performance. We 
are beginning to consider the world of ideals as 
well as the world of facts which underlies it; 
that is, we are studying the background of life 
as well as the pleasing foreground which satis- 
fies the senses. 

My moral conception of Nathan Hale is a 
different one from that of other sculptors who 

[120] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

have represented him as an aristocrat defying 
the mob of soldiers and half -awakened citizens 
who surrounded that apple-tree in the early 
morning. He has followed in the footsteps of 
his divine Master and of men like Giordano 
Bruno, who accepted the fate of a martyr not 
only with faith, but gladly for country and God. 
As our poet Lowell writes : 

"By the light of burning heretics, Christ's bleeding 

feet I track, 
Toiling up new Calvaries ever with the cross that 

turns not back, 
And these mounts of anguish number how each 

generation learned 
One new word of that grand Credo which in 

prophet-hearts hath burned 
Since the first man stood God-conquered with his 

face to heaven upturned." 

The names of Achilles, Hector, and the storied 
heroes of Homer pale before the simple self- 
sacrifice of the Christian hero, Hale. We need 
a new order of poets to record the heroic deeds 

[121] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

of such men. The high-sounding phrases of 
the Greeks are not sincere enough for our pur- 
pose, and America has begun to place the form 
of her ideal patriot before her citizens in that 
language of form which is understood by all 
nations and all people. And the time is not far 
distant when some new Whitman or Whittier, 
Bryant or Lowell will record the deeds of Na- 
than Hale in verse which is worthy of his lofty 
achievement. 

It is true that Andr6 has had all the honor 
that the English nation can pay to one of her 
heroes. He has a place in Westminster Ab- 
bey, that most sublime of all mausoleums, but 
we must believe that Nathan Hale has still a 
greater place in the hearts of his people. Stone 
by stone, bit by bit, that vast mausoleum of 
Westminster is crumbling away, but the name 
and character of Nathan Hale are growing and 
are transmitted from father to son. We must 
believe with the Greek that " character is des- 

[122] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

tiny," and that the name and fame of Hale rest 
upon a pedestal more enduring than granite or 
bronze. 

The sorrowful death of Hale and the cruel 
way in which he was treated in comparison with 
the soldier-like treatment which Andre received 
at the hands of Washington and his generals 
had no effect upon him. His thoughts were 
far away and at rest. 

What if he were thrust into a noisome dun- 
geon in a sugar-house, what if the last letters 
he had written to his beloved were destroyed 
before his eyes, and the Bible he revered were 
taken from him — nothing could shake his faith 
any more than his fellow officers could shake 
his determination to give his life, if it need be, 
for his country's sake. He was no longer living 
the life of the outside world. If they had put 
him upon the rack, it would have been the same 
with him. The curious crowd in the early 
morning, the ribald teamsters, the scornful sol- 

[123] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

diers, the half-drunken women of the streets 
who had gathered about that apple-tree to see 
the execution — all these things were nothing to 
a man whose soul was fixed on God. 

A resident of Hale's native town, Coventry, 
John S. Babcock, Esq., and a poet of no mean 
reputation, has written a touching tribute to 
Hale's memory, from which we quote the fol- 
lowing verses : 

" He fell in the spring of his early prime, 
With his fair hopes all around him ; 
He died for his birth-land — a glorious crime, 
Ere the palm of his fame had crowned him. 

" He fell in her darkness, he lived not to see 
The morn of her risen glory ; 
But the name of the brave, in the heart of the free, 
Shall be twined in her deathless story." 

I give below an epitaph which was written 
thirty years ago by George Gibbs, who was at 
one time the librarian of the New York His- 
torical Society: 

[ 124] 



CHARACTER OF NATHAN HALE 

Stranger, Beneath this Stone, 

Lies the Dust of 

A Spy 

Who Perished Upon the Gibbet; 

Yet 
The Storied Marbles of the Great, 

The Shrines of Heroes, 

Entombed not one more Worthy of 

Honor 

Than him who here 

Sleeps his last sleep. 

Nations 

Bow with Reverence before the Dust 

Of him who dies 

A Glorious death, 

Urged on by the Sound of the Trumpet 

And the shouts of 

Admiring thousands. 

But what Reverence, what honor, 

Is not due to one 

Who for his country encountered 

Even an infamous death, 

Soothed by no sympathy, 

Animated by no praise. 



[125] 



fntier 



91niie]c 



PAGE 

America and England, Kinship of, u6 

Andre, Major John : 

Capture of, 93 

compared with Hale, 24, 91, 97, 99 

Court-martial of, 93 

Dealings of, with Arnold, 92 

executed as spy, 93 

Henry Cabot Lodge on character of, 95 

Last words of, 100 

Looting of Franklin's house by, 97 

Love of, for Miss Sneyd, 94 

Monument to, in Westminster Abbey, ... 94, 122 

Monument to, on Hudson, 26 

Arnold, Benedict, Dealing of, with Andre, ... 92, 98 

Arnold, Matthew, on memorials, 16 

Artist reads faces. How an, 96 

Babcock, John S., Poem of, on Hale, 124 

Bogert , witness of Hale's execution, 86 

Brewer, Justice, on lesson to Yale of life of Hale, . .110 

Brooks, Phillips, Suggestions of, relative to statue of Hale, 33 
Browning, Robert, on the victory of the vanquished, . 40, no 

Chichester's Tavern, Widow, Hale betrayed in, . . 72, 77 

Clinton, General, at Battle of Long Island, .... 61 
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor : 

on relation of art and liberty, 114 

on relation of cosmopolitanism and patriotism, . . 117 
Colonial epoch : 

importance of, 32 

likeness of men of, 35 

Partridge's study of, 31 

Cornwallis, Lord, at Battle of Long Island, .... 61 
Cosmopolitanism, American claimants of, are expatriates, 

recluses, <•/ a/., 117 



[129] 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Cunningham, William, Provost-Marshal : 

character of, 82 

demands confession of Hale, 85 

present at hanging of Hale, 84 

receives order for Hale's execution, 82 

treats Hale brutally, 83 

De Heister, General, commands Hessians at Battle of Long 

Island, 61 

Depew, Chauncey M., on last hours of Hale, .... 83 

Dwight, Timothy, wrote poem on Hale, 14 

East Haddam, Conn., Hale teaches school at, . ... 48 

Eggleston, George Cary : 

Comparison of Hale and Andre by, 23 

Foreword by, 24 

England and America, Kinship of, 116 

Franklin, Benjamin, Home of, looted by Andre, ... 97 

Gautier, Theophile, on the deathlessness of art, ... 16 

Gibbs, George, Epitaph of Hale by, 124 

Grant, General, at Battle of Long Island, 61 

Green, Samuel, Hale's pupil, describes Hale, .... 49 
Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, is superseded by Generals Putnam 

and Sullivan before Battle of Long Island, ... 60 

Hadley, Pres. Arthur T., Address of, at dedication of Ives- 

Cheney Gateway, Yale University, .... 30 

Hale, Edward Everett : 

Bust of, aids conception of statue of Nathan Hale, . . 36 

Man Without a Country," "The, a study of patriotism, by, 36 

Hale, Nathan : 

accomplishes work of secret expedition, .... 77 

as amateur actor, 46 

as athlete, 46 

as spy receives instructions from Washington, . . 69 

at Boston, pays troops out of his own pocket, ... 52 

Babcock's poem on, 124 

Brewer, Justice, on, no 



[130] 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Hale, Nathan {continued) : 

Capture of, 80 

captures British sloop in East River, . . • . . .54 

Character of, 105 

Comparison of, with Major Andre, . . .24, 91, 97, 99 

Cunningham's cruel treatment of, 83 

cuts prayers for wrestling match, 54 

Description of 50 

Description of, by his pupil, Samuel Green, ... 49 

dines with Putnam, Wolcott, Hull, ei a/., .... 53 

Dwight's poem on, 14 

Epitaph of, by Gibbs, 124 

Facsimile of writing of, 113 

Halifax^ taken on board the, 80 

Hanging of, 84 

Howe offers commission in British Army to, . . . 81 

Howe signs order for execution of, 82 

Hull hears resolution of, 68 

Hull parts from, 69 

ideal patriot, an, 31? 33 

Last words of, 85 

Miner's Tavern, in, Speech of, 50 

Motto of, 47 

obtains captain's commission, 54 

Poem on, by William Ordway Partridge, .... 19 

poem on. No great, 14 

poem on. Time for great, 122 

Religious spirit of, 119 

Route of, on secret expedition, 72 

scenes. Three striking, in life of 39 

spy, volunteers as a, 68 

Washington, Did, communicate with ? .... 39 

Washington, Interview of, with, 39> 69 

Yale, at. Record of, 46 

Hale, Nathan, Statue of : 

Brooks, Phillips, suggests ideas for, ... 33, 34, 35 

First and final conceptions of, 33 

Hale, E. E., Bust of, aids conception of, .... 35 

Inspiration to whole country of, 34 



[131] 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Hale, Nathan, Statue of {continued) : 

New Haven green, site of, 23, 31 

Time ripe for making of, 120 

Yale man, Life-mask of, aids conception of, ... 35 

Hale, Richard, the father of Nathan Hale, .... 45 

Halifax, Hale taken on board the, 80 

Hamilton, Alexander : 

Partridge's statue of, 31 

told of Hale's execution, 87 

Hempstead, Sergeant, accompanies Hale, ... 69, 71 

History, The study of, its use to a sculptor, .... 37 

Howe, General : 

Army of, lands at Staten Island, 60 

Expedition of, against New York, 59 

Hale offered commission in British Army by, . . 81 
Hale, Reported harshness toward, denied, . . .105 

Hale taken before, 80 

Hale's execution, signs order for, 82 

Hull, John : 

Hale, a college friend of, 57 

Hale dines with, S3 

Hale parts with, 69 

Hale tells, of resolve to volunteer as a spy, ... 68 

founder of Society of the Cincinnati, a, .... 47 

Ideal work. Creation of an, 31, 33 

Ives-Cheney Gateway, Yale Univ., Dedication of, . . 30 

Knowlton, Col., asks for volunteer spy, 68 

Likeness of men of same epoch, 35 

Lincoln, Abraham, first made America truly free, . . 117 

Linonian Society, Yale, Hale a founder of, .... 46 

Lodge, Henry Cabot, on character of Andre, .... 95 
Long Island : 

Battle of, 59 

Evacuation of, 63 

Lowell, James Russell : 

on martyr-heretics, 121 

Quotation from " Present Crisis " of 108 



[132] 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Memorials, Value of, to a nation, 16 

Miner's Tavern, New Haven, speech of Hale in, . . . 51 

New Haven, Continental troops gather in, .... 50 

New London : 

Hale a teacher in, 49 

Hale joins in defense of, 52 

Hale marches to Massachusetts with troops from, . . 51 

Partridge, Bishop, brother of sculptor and member of So- 
ciety of the Cincinnati, 47 

Partridge, William Ordway : 

Poem on Nathan Hale by, 19 

Study of character of Hale by, 23. 27 

Percy, Lord, at Battle of Long Island, 61 

"Present Crisis," Quotation from Lowell's, . . . .108 

Putnam, General : 

dines with Hale, 53 

at Battle of Long Island, 60 

Quarne, Col., of the Halifax^ treats Hale kindly, ... 80 

Richmond, black hangman of Hale, 84 

Ripley, Alice : 

Hale, sweetheart of, 48 

Ripley, Elijah, marries, 48 

widow becomes a, S3 

words of, dying S3 

Ripley, Elijah, marries Hale's sweetheart, .... 48 

"Rivers of Babylon," quotation from Swinburne's, . 108 

Sculptor's attitude toward biography. A, .... 13 

Sculptor's methods. A, in creating an ideal work, ... 37 

Self-sacrifice the worthiest use of life, 24 

Shakespeare, Partridge's statue of, 35 

Sneyd, Miss, the sweetheart of Andre, 94 

Statue, Value of an heroic, in materialistic age, . .118 

Stirling, General, at Battle of Long Island, .... 61 
Sullivan, General, at Battle of Long Island, ... 60, 62 

Swinburne's "Rivers of Babylon," Quotation from, . 108 



[133] 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Tallmadge, Benjamin : 

Andre, in charge of the captured, 47 

Hale, classmate of, 47 

Trumbull, Jonathan, introduces Hale to Washington, . . 52 

Washington, George : 

Andre condemned by, ....*... 93 

Andre's execution, severely criticized for, ... 91 

Boston, calls Connecticut troops to, 52 

Character of, as seen in Stuart portrait, .... 41 

Critical period in campaign of, 38 

Hale present at wrestling match with, .... 54 

Hale's interview with, 39i 52, 69 

Hale's secret communications with, 73 

Long Island evacuated by, 62 

New York defended by, 60 

New York invested by, 67 

volunteer spy, calls for, 68 

Whitman, Walt, on "man greater than his creations," . . 120 

Wolcott, Dr., dines with Hale, 53 

Wright, Ansel, accompanies Hale on secret expedition, 69, 71 

Yale: 

Brewer, Justice, on lesson of Hale's life to, ... 110 
Hadley, President, on value of memorials to, . . . 30 
Hale the ideal patriot of, 3i» 33 



[134] 




x^^^. 



















\./ c ■> ■^ - « %': '""' ,o>\ <■ > '• ' ., ~\ 









■N' a 









'. -> •-- ,o^ 



^ 8 O * \^ ^ s 



,^-^ ^*.- 

^ d 







/>>' , 



^ (, .-, y. -^ A <y, '' 






^a<^ 



















